AN ONTARIO restoration company is suing the Roman Catholic Church in
Halifax for about $120,000 it says it is owed for work it did on the
roof of Saint Mary’s Cathedral Basilica.
FirstOnSite Restoration L.P., which has an office in Dartmouth, has
filed a claim in Nova Scotia Supreme Court alleging that the Roman
Catholic Episcopal Corp. of Halifax breached a contract by failing to
pay $119,895.34 for work the company carried out last year replacing the
east side of the basilica’s roof.
"On a number of occasions, (FirstOnSite) demanded payment and it did
not receive a response," says the statement of claim filed with the
court Wednesday.
The Roman Catholic Episcopal Corp. has not yet filed a defence in the
case, and none of the allegations in the statement of claim have been
proven in court.
FirstOnSite says it got the roofing contract last July 7 after
providing a quote. It had been invited to bid on the project by the
church corporation’s insurer, which is not named in court documents.
The company says it started the work on Aug. 25 and was expected to complete it in about a month.
But in early September, hurricane Earl hit Halifax with a combination
of high winds and rain that resulted in water getting into the Spring
Garden Road basilica.
The company says it had taken reasonable steps to
protect the job site.
FirstOnSite alleges the church corporation handled the cleanup and remediation of the water leak.
"At no time did the defendant ever invoice or blame FirstOnSite for the water infiltration," the statement of claim says.
The roofing project continued to be plagued by weather delays but the company says it finished the work on Nov. 9.
Firstonsite says it invoiced the church corporation through the
insurer for the completed work but was never paid.
The company says it
then received a letter from the insurer in January denying payment
because of alleged deficiencies in the roof and allegations that the
company failed to follow the project’s specifications.
"Prior to this correspondence, none of these issues had been raised," FirstOnSite says in its statement of claim.
The company says it was willing to fix any actual problems with the
roof but the corporation would not allow it to investigate or to make
any repairs.
The company is seeking the cost of the roofing work, plus interest and costs.